CIS student leads initiative via non-profit ‘Teach for Speech’
Bangalore, February 10, 2025: Public speaking skills and clarity in communication are absolutely vital for students in their younger and older years as they graduate from school to careers in an ever-evolving world. Teach For Speech (TFS), with over 12 chapters and 500 people across the globe, is a youth-led non-profit committed to bolstering public speaking skills among underprivileged children across the city by nurturing their confidence, creativity and leadership abilities through impactful programmes, literacy sessions and workshops. Srihita, an IB student at Canadian International School, Bangalore, is spearheading this initiative as president of the Bangalore chapter, which now has over 20 members.
Srihita has conducted workshops at Venkatala Government School (Bangalore) and Jagruthi Trust, where children have participated in storytelling, leadership activities and interactive games. These workshops are tailored to build confidence and improve communication skills among the students. She ensures follow-up sessions and online collaborations with her school’s English Literacy Club to further enhance their learning experience. The workshops were conducted in a mix of English and Kannada to ensure that the students have a basic grasp of the English language. While the students were mainly Kannada-speaking, Srihita spoke in simple English that the students understood. Srihita plans to conduct a workshop every month to reinforce the students’ language skills.
“I’ve always wanted to be involved in advocating for public speaking skills, so I used that passion to open up a community service project for my IB diploma. After documenting the results of the workshop, I reflect on how I could’ve made things go better, so that the next time we conduct a workshop, the same faults won’t happen again. For example, the first time we visited Venkatala, it was difficult to communicate with them because our understanding of their English proficiency was inaccurate. So, the next time we went there, we focused more on English speaking along with the foundation of public speaking skills. I also reflect on how I, as a person, could be better at executing these workshops or how I and my team and I could be better at planning and organising these workshops”, added Srihita.
“To see our own core values of inspiration, caring and respect on display through this initiative is a testament to our vision of empowering our learners to impact a remarkable future”, says Ms. Shweta Sastri, Managing Director, Canadian International School, Bangalore. “We are so proud of this initiative to bring future-ready skills to students who wouldn’t necessarily have the access to public speaking education otherwise.”
The chapter’s initiatives have made a significant impact on elementary school children, from grades 2 to 5 as this stage is crucial for learning. “Speaking capabilities are the gateway for youth to speak up about their educational and career aspirations in the world around them. Without people speaking up, it slows down social change and an individual’s ability to advocate for themselves and others. These capabilities allow the youth to create a confident, articulate and influential voice for the future and for themselves. The students felt more confident in their actions after the workshop and they had loads of fun too,” said Srihita.
Looking ahead, the IB student plans to further develop TFS Bangalore’s programmes with specialised workshops and ongoing support to refine the skills they’re teaching to the under-privileged students.
Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)
